14 must know ideas for a better product page

When talking about the pages you can find in a online store, the product page has one of the most important roles in the entire store: it helps the customer decide if he’s actually going to buy your product.

Knowing this, it’s vital that the product page has both an easy to read page, but also a very accurate and well made product description and other things related to the product.

So good design is not enough. You also need well written descriptions, specifications and other product details.

What I suggest, is to try and answer possible questions about the product through your product page. It will help you and your customer save time and avoid headaches.

For example, is the shipping free? If yes, why not specify this on the product page? It’s not? There are still some handy tricks in order to clarify this subject in the client’s mind without having him navigate to another page.

So, let’s get on it…

14 ideas you must know for a better product page

1. Product title

Try to offer some info straight in the product title. A standard name such as ‘kitchen table SKU9291’ won’t do anything. Remember that the product title is seen across your store: product page, catalog page, related products, cross-sell products etc.

Some knowledge about your audience and their searching habits might help you here. If people often search by following a “product type + color + brand” convention, it would be silly of you not to include those details in your product title.

Advice: make sure the product title is a H1 (heading 1) HTML element on your product page.

2. Product media – images, videos etc.

We’re talking about an online store. You can’t buy something online if you don’t know how it looks, if you don’t know how to use it etc. So make sure you have some high quality images that showcase your products in the best way possible.

Videos, 360 shots and zooming in at least a little might help satisfy the client’s need to know specific details about how your product looks.

Here’s what to aim for:

at least 3 images each in different angles for every product;

bonus points if you have a video of your product in action;

at least one image with a white/clean background, preferably set to be the main image;

if you have some realistic shots, aim to include them in a pretty product description;

don’t go overboard with the image size (you have high hopes if you think i’m going to wait for your 2.3 Mb image to load);

3. Product description

I know it takes time, but focus on having unique and clear product descriptions that showcase the main advantages or unique selling points of your product.

You don’t need to go overboard, as most e-commerce platforms (Magento, WooCommerce etc.) have tabs for detailed and technical product attributes. I’d focus on a text between 200 – 500 words with 2-3 photos that contain the product or specific interesting features.

Aim to have a proper structure. Formatting your product description while having in mind the product keywords that people search for and structuring data with titles marked as H2 or H3 HTML elements can help your product’s performance when we’re talking about search engine traffic and visibility.

Especially focus on the product description for products that you know you’re going to sell for a while. A product that will probably be available in the next 12-24 months, will have time to properly rank organically.

Product attributes / specifications. Most e-commerce platforms have attributes in a dedicated tab. Technical stuff like the weight, dimensions and other things are very important. Make sure to mention every technical detail about the product.

Why? Do you really want to get asked 100 times what weight does that laptop you’re selling have? I thought so.

4. Stock

If you choose to display the stock with a generic message like In Stock or numerical is up to you. But make sure that your stocks are properly updated.

That awkward call to tell a client that the product they ordered is no longer in stock, and it was a stock keeping error is not only going to hurt 1 sale. It has to potential to hurt your whole business. People have friends, people talk.

Here are some ideas:

low stock? You could replace the In Stock message with something like: Just 3 in stock. Hurry up! For a potential bump in conversions;

out of stock and not sure if to re-stock? Stock alerts are great for this! People can opt to be notified when the product comes back in stock. So you can get an idea of how many people are really interested in buying that product;

make the stock status clear and visible – make it easy to find, easy to understand;

5. Prices

Your product’s price must be visible and easy to notice. Having a small and blended into the design price, may frustrate users. A properly sized price label that is easy to read can give the impression of transparency and increase trust.

Don’t forget to properly show if the product is on sale. A neat idea would be to have a countdown timer, that shows how much time until the offer expires.

6. The call to action

You know, the Add to Cart button (usually).

This button must be seen from outer space. Make it clear, big and visible. A good idea is to use a high contrast in order to give it some visibility. And usually, these types of buttons must be the same color thorough the store, in order to create a flow between important actions inside the store.

Example: the only big red/orange/green thing on the product page, should be the Add to Cart button.

7. Reviews

Reviews are big. Other people’s opinion about your products can make a huge difference. Positive and genuine product reviews can give a product a huge boost.

A good idea would be to encourage users to add a review. An easy way to this, is to send them a follow up e-mail after their order has been processed in which you ask them for a review. (might as well throw a small coupon in if they do decide to express their opinion)

Bonus tip: product reviews, when properly implemented in your store, can even appear in the SERP (search engine results page). This can lead to a better CTR, and obviously increase organic traffic to your product page.

8. Shipping and delivery

Be transparent. Messages like ‘yours in 2-3 business days’ can help improve conversion rates. Also, if you offer free shipping make sure to show it!

Properly showing and explaining the delivery options, costs and duration can solve a lot of problems like: cart abandonment, order returns/refusals and many more. Save yourself some headaches and be clear with your shipping policy.

9. Return options

To a genuine shopper, visible information about the return options is a sign of trust. They are more likely to order if they know that your business is legitimate and accepts returns (on applicable items obviously).

Don’t forget to write an order return policy, and link to it in the footer of your store. It helps clear some doubts.

10. The wish list rocks

Almost any type of store can benefit from this neat facility. People can choose to save what they want to buy later, or remember, in a wish list.

The good part, is that on most capable e-commerce platforms you can see the items added to wish lists. This is a great opportunity when you are thinking about future promotions and discounts. Give a small discount to items found in wish lists, and you might give those sales figures a small bump 🙂

11. Upselling, cross-selling, related products and accessories

This also may take time to properly set up. But it can have a big ROI (Return On Investment). The time you ‘lose’ on setting these up properly will be most probably worth it.

What these terms mean:

Upsells = recommended products, that are a bit more expensive than the product you are currently looking at;

Cross-sells = suggestions based on the products you are looking at (usually shown in the shopping cart);

Related products = products related to the current product;

Accessories = additional products that go well with the product that we’re looking at. (a mouse for a laptop, or a Windows licence… etc.)

Properly setting these up can increase the average order value and sometimes even the average number of products per order. Plus, your clients will appreciate if the recommended products really do match the product they are thinking of buying.

12. Social media sharing buttons

Some people share interesting products to show them to their friends. Some share them to show off. Other people just share to ask an opinion.

Who are you to deprive them of the desire to give your store a little extra reach on social media? Depending on your store’s niche, you might want to have different buttons but usually Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter is a must.

13. Consider the live chat option

Sometimes a live chat window might help you get those extra orders from customers that don’t seem to find what they were looking for or need some extra information about the product.

Usually people are pretty straightforward and appreciate if you can answer them fast and to the point. I wouldn’t be too sales-agressive on a live chat conversation. Provide the info requested, and be NICE!

14. Responsive

In 2018 most of your store’s traffic is probably mobile-based. It goes without say that your store needs to be responsive.

I hope that your store is already responsive. But don’t go thinking that it’s all good. You need to test and adjust that product page until it’s perfect.

I’m talking about proper sizing of different elements and texts. If you use a font size of 14 px on the desktop version, you might need to bump that to 16 px for some mobile devices. Adjustments like proper text sizing, when done right, can really boost mobile conversions.

Conclusion

Last but not least, speed saves lives. Make that product page blazing fast. Speed improves user interaction, conversions, SEO and business in general. Be sure to have a well performing store, if you don’t want to lose sales and customers.

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